Last week we, the Goducate Philippines’ team, “broke-ground” at our training campsite in Alimodian, Panay, Philippines.
This is the beginning of our dream to produce Goducate workers for Asia. We believe that the quality of Goducate’s work is dependent on the quality of Goducate workers. And our effectiveness in helping Asians help themselves is dependent on our ability to produce an adequate number of quality Goducate workers. Considering the population of Asia and the needs of Asia, it is obvious that if Goducate is serious about helping Asians help themselves, then this task is HUGE!
Some months ago we bought a piece of land, 40 minutes from the city of Iloilo, for this purpose. The seller of the land was a kind grandmother called Nanay (which means “grandma”) Gonzales. Nanay Gonzales had grown up in utter poverty and had only been through 6 years of elementary education. She sold vegetables in the local market to support her family. Her struggles worsened when her husband abandoned her and her six little children. However, her hard work and honesty impressed a large importer of mangoes in Manila, and he appointed her to be his “agent” for mangoes from her district – which was famous for its mangoes.
She prospered and bought this piece of land and spent each weekend with her little children planting fruit trees and mahogany trees on this piece of land. When she heard of our purpose to train workers to help poor Asians, she offered to sell the land to us at a discounted price.
Nanay Gonzales was present at our ground-breaking ceremony with 5 of her grandchildren – most of whom are now professionals. It was a proud moment for her to be able to give back to society and to be a part of helping the poor!